The panels are made of layers of hemp felt compressed with a natural glue that designer Jory Swart developed himself. The resulting product is completely biodegradable. By applying a wave structure to the panel, the material gains stiffness. The hemp felt is already used as an insulation material, the newly developed panels do not yet have an application as a building material.
Made from
These hemp panels only contain hemp and a binding agent. The hemp comes from the Eastern part of Groningen and the binding agent is a natural glue developed by Jory Swart himself.
Production proces
- After 8 to 10 weeks, the hemp is ready to be harvested.
- The plants are then somewhat 4 meters in length.
- The hemp is processed into felt.
- Two layers of hemp felt with the natural glue are manually pressed into a hemp sheet.
- Two or three hemp plates together form a hemp panel, of which one plate has a wave structure to reinforce the material.
- The material dries in about 4 days. Just on the air.
Applied
At the moment the hemp plates are mainly used as insulation material and in design objects.
Using hemp as a biobased material stimulates biodiversity
Environmental impact
- The production process is manual.
- The entire hemp plant is used for the panels. So no waste.
- Local raw materials are used.
- Hemp panels are fully biodegradable.
- Hemp is a crop with many benefits for the environment: growing hemp prevents soil subsidence, biodiversity is stimulated and the soil quality is improved. Win, win, win.
Growth opportunities
The process is now still small-scale and manual. Switching to a machine driven process would contribute to upscaling, but this requires investments. The moisture resistance of this product is still under development, which is necessary to make the panels much more widely applicable.